With four overs to go, Sri Lanka were in complete control. West Indies needed 60 runs from 24 balls — a target that, on a pitch where Sri Lanka's spinners had dictated terms for the entire chase, looked comfortably out of reach. Wanindu Hasaranga had just removed another West Indies batter. Maheesh Theekshana had bowled three overs for 11 after an expensive start. The Sri Lankan players were tightening fields, talking through plans, doing everything a team does when it believes the contest is moving decisively in its favour.
Then West Indies scored 60 runs off the next 22 deliveries.
Sherfane Rutherford — dropped twice on his way to an unbeaten 54 off 40 balls — anchored a defining stand of 81 with Rovman Powell. And when Jason Holder walked out in the final overs and smashed 21 runs off just five balls, the equation that had looked impossible four overs earlier was suddenly, emphatically, over.
West Indies finished on 170 for 5, chasing down Sri Lanka's 169 with two balls to spare — a five-wicket win that secured the T20I series 2-1 at Sabina Park, Kingston. There are heists, and then there are heists. This one will live long in the memory of everyone who watched it.
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